Contact device for electric self-playing musical instruments.



PATENTED DEC. 13, 1904.

I. B. SMITH. CONTACT DEVICE FOR ELECTRIC SELF PLAYING MUSICALINSTRUMENTS.

APPLICATION IILED JULY 14. 1904.

N0 MODEL.

witnaaow UNITED STATES Patented December 13, 1904.

PATENT OEEIcE.

IRVING B. SMITH, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE STOKES &SMITH COMPANY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A

CORPORATION OF NETV JERSEY.

CONTACT DEVICE FOR ELECTRIC SELF-PLAYING MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 777,153, dated December13, 1904,

Application filed July 1A, 1904.

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, IRVING B. SMITH, a citizen of the United States,residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State ofPennsylvania, have invented new and useful Improvements in ContactDevices for Electric Self-Playing Musical Instruments, of which thefollowing is a specification.

Mypresent invention relates to electricallyoperated musical instruments,and more particularly to an improved electric contact device ornote-selecting finger that cooperates with the perforated music-sheet tocontrol the circuits leading to the electrically-operated action.

In connection with that type of electricallyoperated musical instrumentsembodying a rotary drum,a series of friction-shoes, strikerrods operatedby the shoes, and electromagnets for throwing the shoes into contactwith the drum is usually employed a contact device comprising a metallicroll or bar upon which bears a plurality of selector-fingers, one fingerleading to each shoe-magnet. A perforated music-sheet is caused totravel between the metallic roll or bar and the selectorfingers andserves to normally hold these ele ments separated, so that all thecircuits are broken. When, however, a perforation in the music-sheetappears under a selector-finger, its cooperating magnet is energized,which acts to throw its shoe into contact with the drum, and thestriker-rod attached thereto is then moved upward to actuate thepiano-key. As at present constructed, the contact-fingers each consistof one or more phosphor-bronze wires that are mounted on a suitablesupport and project at an angle of about thirty degrees toward thecontact-roll, the free end of each finger being arranged to bear uponsaid roll or upon the music-sheet traveling over the same. Where morethan one finger is used for each circuit, these have, so far as I amaware, always been arranged in the same horizontal plane, so as to makesimultaneous contact with the contact-roll. Now it often occurs that thepiece of music being played Serial No. 216,456. (No model.)

contains a very short perforation or a group of such perforations, eachrepresenting a short note-say a thirty-second or a sixty-fourth 5note-said group of perforations being arranged very close together, soas to be played successively, and sometimes the musical score indicatesthat these notes are to be played in presto time. In prior constructionswhere a single selector-finger is employed for each magnet it has beenfound when a very short perforation appears in the music-sheet or agroup of such perforations appear and the sheet is being moved at a fairrate of speed that the contact-finger is brought into engagement withthe contact-roll for such an infinitesimally short space of time as tobarely energize its magnet, the amount of such energization being onlysufficient to cause the shoe to move downward into contact with thedrum; but before the latter is able to accomplish its work-namely,actuate the piano-key through the movement of the strikerrod-the circuitis broken by the interposition of an imper- 7o forate part of themusic-sheet between the finger and the contact-roll, the result beingthat the sound-actuating device (the hammer) simply trembles withoutstriking the string and without giving off any sound whatever. Thus itwill be seen that in many cases some of the notes of the composition areentirely lost, and this often destroys the musical theme.

Itis therefore the purpose of the present invention to overcome theabove-noted objections, which occur at the present time in electricalself-playing musical instruments, and I accomplish the end in view byemploying a second set or bank of contact-fingers, which 8 5 aredisplosed slightly in advance of the fingers ordinarily used, thearrangement of the fingers being such that before the first finger orset of fingers breaks contact with the contactroller the second fingeror set of fingers come 9 into play and continue the electricalconnection with the magnet or magnets for a suificiently long period oftime to enable the shoes and striker-rods to attain their full stroke,or,

in other words, to compel the hammers to strike the strings every time ashort perforation or group of such perforations appear.

It is a well-known fact that pneumaticallyoperated musical instrumentswherein powerpneumatics are employed to actuate the piano keys orhammers operate somewhat more rapidly than electrically-actuateddevices, owing to the fact that the tracker-ducts are sufficiently longto enable afull supply of air to enter or escape from thep0\verpneumatics, and for this reason in cutting the perforatedmusic-sheets for pneumatic instruments the perforations have generallybeen cut comparatively short. This is especially true with respect toperforations representing very short notessay thirtysecond andsixtyfourth notes and it has been found, therefore, that music-sheetscut in this manner for pneumatic instruments are not well adapted forelectrically-operated instruments as new constructed.

It is one of the prime objects, then, of this invention to provide anovel form of contact device for electrically -operated musicalinstruments that will accommodate perforated music-sheets that have beenespecially cut for other forms of automatic musical instruments.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel form of flexiblecontact finger or brush possessing the necessary characteristics for usein connection with electrical self-playing musical instruments.

In order to enable others to understand, make, and use my saidinvention, 1 will now proceed to describe the same in detail, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is adiagrammatic view of a part of one type of electrically-operated musicalinstrument,showing my invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is an enlargeddetail sectional view of my improved contact device, the same beingshown in connection with a perforated music-sheet. Fig. 3 is aperspective view of a slightly-modified form of contact finger or brush,and Figs. 1, 5, 6, and 7 are similar views of other modified forms ofcontact-fingers.

I have shown my present invention as applied to a well-known type ofelectrically-operated self-playing musical instrument; butit will beobvious that the same may be applied to other forms ofelectrically-controlled musical instruments without departing from thespirit of the invention, the present showing being made only by way ofexample.

In the accompanying drawings the reference-numeral 1 designates a rotarydrum, above which are suspended a plurality of friction-shoes 2, one foreach piano-key, said shoes being hung or pivoted to rods 3, dependingfrom armatures 4 of eleetromagnets 5. Extending upward from each shoe :2is a striker-rod 6, the upper end of which is adapted to impinge therear end of a piano-key 7, the arrangement and operation of themechanism just described being such that whenever a magnet 5 isenergized its shoe 2 will be thrown into frictional contact with therapidly-revolving drum 1, resulting in thrusting the striker-rod 6upward and operating the piano-key 7 to actuate the sounding devices orhammers. (Not shown.)

The magnets 5 are energized through the medium of selector-fingerscooperating with a contact roll or bar 8, and a perforated music-sheet 9is caused to travel between the said selector-fingers and roll or bar 8.There is a separate circuit-wire 10 leading from each finger to itsmagnet 5, and from the magnets lead return-wires 12 to the contact baror roll 8, a suitable source of energy, such as a battery 18, beinglocated in the circuit.

As the present invention relates more particularly to the constructionand arrangement of the contactlingers, 1 will now proceed to describethis part of the device.

As before stated, each contact-finger, as heretofore constructed,consists of a single wire, as 1 1, or three of such wires arranged inhorizontal alinement, so that all will simultaneously enter aperforation in the music-sheet when such perforation was encounteredduring the travel of the sheet; but as before explained such anarrangement proved to be fatally defective when very short perforationsin the music were encountered. In order to overcome this serious defect,I arrange a second finger, as 15, in advance or in rear of each of thefingers 14, both said lingers being included in circuit with eachelectromagnet 5. The two wires 1 1 and 15 constituting eachsolector-finger are located in close proximity to each other, thedistance between the two being slightly less than the length of theshortest perforation in a music-sheet say a perforation representing asixty-fourth note. All the selector-fingers are mounted on a bar or rail16 and project at an angle of about thirty degrees toward thecontact-roll 8, the ends of the fingers bearing upon the periphery ofthe roll or upon the note-sheet 9. By this arrangement it will be seenthat during the forward travel of the music-sheet whenever a shortperforation, such as 17, appears under the selector-fingers the finger 11 will be the first to enter said perforation and make contact with thecontact-roll 8, (see Fig. 2,) thus energizing the magnet 5 to cause theshoe to bear upon the drum 1; but before this finger 14L is lifted outof contact with the roll 8 (which is caused by the continued travel ofthe sheet) the linger 15 will enter the perforation and continue theelectrical connection with the magnet 5, thus enablingthe shoeQandstrikerrod 6 to do their full work-namely, impinge the rear end of thekey? and cause the pianohammer to strike its strings.

In Figs. 1 and 2 I have shown each finger as consisting of two wires 14and 15; but it will be obvious that I may employ more than two wires,and in practice I actually do prefer to use a group of four or morewires, two or more of which will correspond to the wires 14: and two ormore corresponding to the wires 15, or I may bunch a lot of wires sothat some will lead others, as seen at 18, Fig. 3. This latterarrangement insures a perfect contact at all times and is of advantagein cases where some of the Wires become bent, which sometimes occurs,for it will be understood that the fingers are ordinarily made of veryfine resilient wire in order that they will be quick in action and sothat they will not tear the thin paper of which the music-sheet iscomposed.

Instead of constructing the fingers of wire, as above described, I maymake each finger from a thin piece of sheet metal, as shown in Figs. 4and 5, and in this case a thin strip of spring metal is bent along thelines 19 20 to provide a relatively broad base portion 21, through whichan attaching-screw 22 may be passed, the two forwardly-projecting leaves23 being provided with longitudinal slits 24, whereby independentfingers 25 are formed, the fingers on the upper leaf leading those ofthe lower leaf, or instead of constructing the fingers in this manner Imay form them from several laminations of thin spring metal, as shown at26, Fig. 6. In this case the spring of the laminations will permit thefingers to separate slightly at the point where they rest on themusic-sheet in order to assist their independent action. If desired, thelaminations may be slightly separated to give them a wider range ofindependent movement, as shown at 27, Fig. 7

In each case described it will be seen that the leading feature ofthe-invention resides in providing a contact-finger for electricalselfplaying instruments comprising a plurality of closely-arrangedselectors, in which one is located in advance of the other, so that theywill make contact successively with a contact roll or bar during thepassage of a musicsheet; but before one is lifted from the said roll orbar the other will be brought into engagement therewith, whereby tofurnish a continuous supply of electrical energy to the electric actionfor operating the sound-producing devices.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An electrically-operated musical instrument, having electrical meansfor controlling the operation of the sound-producing devices, and acontact device comprising in part a series of sets of selectors incircuit with the said electrical means, each set of selectors consistingof at least two fingers, one of which is located adjacent to andslightly in advance of the other.

2. An electrically-operated musical instrument, having electromagnetsfor controlling the operation of the sound-prod ucing devices, and acontact device comprising in part a plurality of sets of selectors, eachset of selectors consisting of at least two fingers, one of which islocated adjacent to and slightly in advance of the others, and each setof selectors being included in a separate magnet-circuit.

3. An electrically-operated musical instrument controlled by aperforated music-sheet, having electrical means for controlling thesound-producing devices, and a contact device comprising a contact baror roll and a series of sets of selectors in circuit with saidelectrical means, each set of selectors consisting of at least twofingers, one of which is located adjacent to and in advance of theother, the space separating the fingers of each set being less than thelength of the shortest perforation in the music-sheet.

1. An electrically-operated playing device for musical instruments,having note-selecting means, comprising a contact bar or roll and aseries of sets of selectors adapted to bear upon said bar or roll, eachset of selectors consisting of at least two fingers, one of which islocated adjacent to and slightly in advance of the other.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

IRVING B. SMITH. Witnesses:

J. SToeDELL SToKEs, GEO. Z. SUTTON.

